Very useful exercises indeed - many thanks :-) Judging from what is visible in the video, it looks as if, on the downward shift, that you use the curve at the end of the neck to identify where you position your thumb - would I be right in thinking this?
Not a bad thought. I would say that I don't actually use it to feel 1st position and I would recommend not doing so. Reason being that I think that the thumb would be too far back if you had it actually get all the way to the curve at he end of the neck. It is close though. Happy practicing!
Can you explain why you usually start from half position? I really like your exercises but wonder if it is somehow less good to start from 1st position? Especially when going to 3rd?
Hey John! Good question. It's one I haven't thought that critically about till now. It's just the way the exercises are written in the Suzuki books. On thinking about it though I do have some thoughts: 1. I don't think of the exercise as starting in half position. Rather I just think of the first note as a low 1 in 1st position. I only really think of being in half position if many of my finger placements are below their usual position. 2. I think the low 1 is chosen perhaps because it makes the shifts easier to hear. I think the priority is arriving at the new position at a note that is scalar in relationship to the note in 1st position. 3. At the end of the day, it probably doesn't matter much where you start from as long as you are ingraining the correct fundamentals of shifting. Feel free to adapt it and start from a neutral 1 and it will work just as well. 👍
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Very useful exercises indeed - many thanks :-) Judging from what is visible in the video, it looks as if, on the downward shift, that you use the curve at the end of the neck to identify where you position your thumb - would I be right in thinking this?
Not a bad thought. I would say that I don't actually use it to feel 1st position and I would recommend not doing so. Reason being that I think that the thumb would be too far back if you had it actually get all the way to the curve at he end of the neck. It is close though. Happy practicing!
❤
Thanks Silvana!
Do only thing not to release is the bow
Can you explain why you usually start from half position? I really like your exercises but wonder if it is somehow less good to start from 1st position? Especially when going to 3rd?
Hey John! Good question. It's one I haven't thought that critically about till now. It's just the way the exercises are written in the Suzuki books. On thinking about it though I do have some thoughts:
1. I don't think of the exercise as starting in half position. Rather I just think of the first note as a low 1 in 1st position. I only really think of being in half position if many of my finger placements are below their usual position.
2. I think the low 1 is chosen perhaps because it makes the shifts easier to hear. I think the priority is arriving at the new position at a note that is scalar in relationship to the note in 1st position.
3. At the end of the day, it probably doesn't matter much where you start from as long as you are ingraining the correct fundamentals of shifting. Feel free to adapt it and start from a neutral 1 and it will work just as well. 👍